


Inspiration

by BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: AU - Stanley Academy, Alternate Universe - High School, Artist!Jamie, Dallas Stars, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-02
Updated: 2014-01-02
Packaged: 2018-01-07 04:00:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1115239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse/pseuds/BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jamie Benn loses his inspiration and then finds something better. A Bennguin High School AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inspiration

**Author's Note:**

> I really like the word Bennguin. Everybody say it with me! BEEEENNNNNGUUIIIINN aahahahha
> 
> Not beta'd and it was written in 3 hours, so, sorry. 
> 
> Artwork is my actual current art project that I need to finish within four days. _Yay._

[](http://s1311.photobucket.com/user/WellPuckYouToo/media/inspiration_zps2cb560f9.png.html)

Jamie bit his thumb and cursed when he felt the spike of pain travel up in arm. His shoulders were aching from being hunched over for too long, his back sore and cramped. His arms moved in a steady rhythm, his fingers smearing the black charcoal on the paper before him. He stopped after a moment, adjusting his posture and wiping at the sweat on his forehead. He muttered quietly to himself, his black covered hands twitching as his eyes gazed at his unfinished work. He cursed after a moment, his hands clenching in anger, and he slapped his hands down onto his picture. He brushed his hands around, smearing and ruining all of his previous work. He grumbled under his breath, glaring at the mess before him. The smeared work had been of a hand, reaching for something, what, Jamie hadn't quite figured out. A contrast of white, black, and gray, it had been his most recent artwork. Had been being the key words.

"You know, you could still just do a portrait of me. I find myself to be quite stunning."

Jamie snorted out a laugh, a smile falling onto his face. His brother, Jordie, rounded the opposite side of the table, his eyes taking in the ruined piece of art.

"Why do you do this to yourself? Just yesterday you had been certain that this would be the piece that you finished."

Jamie shook his head, his hair flopping out of his eyes. "I thought... it just wasn't working."

"I don't get you sometimes," Jordie stated simply, coming over to Jamie's side and ruffling his already mused hair. "But whatever, nobody wants to know what's going on in that shaggy head of yours."

"I told you, I'm getting a hair cut," Jamie says, shoving Jordie's hand away from him.

"Whatever, Scooby-doo," Jordie replies, tapping him on his shoulder before leaving the room.

Jamie watches his brother go, a smile lingering on his face. His grin widened and he hung his head back, laughter spilling from him.

"Jordie, you're such a dick!" he shouts after his brother. A muffled curse comes from somewhere upstairs and Jamie just laughs louder.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jamie had always been the sporty type. He loves hockey, like most Canadians, and he grew up with it. Baseball was in his life too, summer games filled with the smell of glove leather and metal baseball bats. Jamie followed after his brother in a lot of things, hockey being one of them.

With his Mom's insistence, and his Dad's encouragement, he followed Jordie into hockey. His parents and Jenny would all be at his hockey games, from when he first started to when it started to becomes a pain, they always supported him. Jordie went on to be something great, as great as a high school kid could be, and Jamie just stopped. He was so proud of Jordie, so excited to see him succeed at anything, let alone his dreams, but Jamie just stopped. He got tired of being compared to his brother. Tired of people suggesting things, telling him if he only did this he could be better, Jamie stopped playing hockey. His Mom was slightly disappointed, but told him she understood. His Dad used to ask both him and Jordie were having fun. When Jamie stopped replying, taking to just nodding or not replying at all, his father would look at him, search him for something before nodding. When Jamie had told both his parents that he didn't want to play hockey anymore, his Dad was already prepared, searching for something else Jamie could call his own.

Jordie gets recruited to play for Stanley Academy, the Stars division, when he's in middle school and he leaves Victoria and his family behind before his first year of Secondary. Jamie was so proud of him, wishing him a safe trip. He hears amazing things from Jordie, how warm it can get, how the school system is so different. Jordie gives Jamie so many interesting facts during his first year in the States.

Then, Jordie give him his thing.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One day a package came in the mail, addressed to Jamie. He opens it, staring wide eyed at a poorly drawn picture of himself. There's a letter written on the back that tells Jamie all about how Jordie signed up for an art class in his spare time. The picture is awful, Jordie says so himself, but Jamie still tears up when he sees it. He shows it to his Mom, who laughs and promises to get him a frame, before he takes it up to the room he and Jordie used to share. He lays it on his bedside dresser and wonders what Jordie's art class must be like.

His curiosity grows, and soon all of his questions are filled with what they had learned that day. What materials do they use, what medium, what size paper, what brand of pencil. Everything he learns from Jordie is mispronounced and misleading, his mind not soaking up the information like Jamie wishes he would. He eventually stops asking. determined to learn everything on his own. He studies what interests him, charcoal and pottery mostly. He learns the processes, the types, and is excited when Christmas comes around and his Mom buys him a pack of black charcoal pencils and a sketch pad.

He's bad at first, ideas coming and going without any real passion, when he's watching a hockey game and Joe Sakic scores and it suddenly comes to him. He rushes to his room, his Mom's questions falling silent when he doesn't reply. He digs through his closet until he finds a plain cardboard box. Inside holds a couple signed pictures of Burnaby Joe himself, and Jamie grins. He pulls one out, a close up of his face, and leaves both the box and closet open. He climbs onto his bed and holds the photo next to one of his many Sakic posters and just studies them. He looks at the cut of his jaw and his eyes. He tries to memories the slope of his nose and his grin. He eventually puts the photo down and takes out his sketch pad.

He doesn't leave his room for the next four hours, working on the picture intensely. He draws it out first with a lead pencil, glancing at the picture as often as he needs to. When his Mom finally comes into his room, worried, he grins at her and shows her the finished work. It doesn't have any serious shading, Jordie never told him anything about it and he's not that far in his own journey, but it's still quite recognizable. There's some extra smudges here and there, some by accident and some created from his enthusiasm, but it's a million times better than anything Jordie has ever sent home. His Mom just looks at it in shock, her eyes wide in amazement. She glances up at him, raising her eyebrow, before she calls his Dad into his room.

"Randy, come look at this," she says as she hands his drawing to his Dad.

"Oh...," he mutters out, his eyes raking over the picture. "Heather, this is amazing. Is it one of Jordie's?"

"No," she says, taking the drawing gently from his Dad's hands and then handing it back to Jamie. "Jamie did it. Isn't it wonderful?"

His Dad nods in shock, smiling at Jamie and laughing. "Hey, Jamie, you should put your signature and the date at the bottom."

Jamie grins back and pick up a red pen that was sitting on his bedside table. He thinks for a second before slowly scribbling down a signature on the bottom right corner. He puts the date beneath it and grins up at his parents, a new light sparkling in his eyes.

Two years later and Jamie's been accepted to the Stars' art program. He packs up his things, his lucky pencil sharpener and his favorite pens the only art supplies he's bringing, and he leaves his parents and Jenny, his sister, behind. Saying goodbye to Victoria is hard, so hard he's not sure how Jordie said goodbye to their home, but he still gets on the plane to Dallas and he still hugs Jordie tight when he sees his brother waiting for him.

Jamie gets settled in quickly, classes blurring together as he works on project after project. His first year is over quickly and he heads home with Jordie for the summer.

Summer is full of street hockey for Jordie and new art projects for Jamie. Jamie joins Jordie often, taking breaks when he feels like it. He's working on a portrait of Jordie when he hears news of Joe Sakic's retirement. He never finishes his project and for the rest of the summer, he can't bring himself to draw. Joe was his idol, his first true inspiration, and to have him retire, it tore Jamie up.

Jamie goes the rest of the summer without filling up his sketch pad. He heads back to school with Jordie and his art block follows him. It's been months, the first half of the school year almost done, and Jamie still hasn't been able to finish a project. His art teacher, Mr. Ruff, worried over him, giving him breaks and accepting the unfinished art projects as they were. Jamie stopped trying to finish them, just started a new project when he felt like it, and then turning it in when he could no longer bring himself to see it, let alone work on it.

Jamie had lost his thing.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jamie sighs as he sets his books down onto his desk, his classmates talking excitedly about what they did over their midterm break. Jamie had spent his break in his room, drawing and then crumpling the papers into balls then throwing them angrily into the trashcan.

"Okay, guys, come on, settle down," Mr. Nill says, leaning against the front of his desk. "We have a couple new students. You'll be meeting them throughout the day, all of them will have a name tag. They've been traded here from other divisions and I expect you all to be at least kind to them. All of them are here for one sport or another, so you best get to know them while you can, soon they'll be representing the school. Our class has been assigned a hockey player. Mr. Seguin, if you would."

Someone walks into the class and shuts the door with a slam. Jamie jumps, his scribbled sketch ruined with a dark pencil mark streaking through the middle. He purses his lips and huffs before finally looking up at the person. He drops his pencil and stares at the guy before him.

The guy is hot, incredibly so, and his uniform fits him in the best way. His hair is brown and unruly, but just enough that it makes him look attractive and not like he just woke up. He's frowning, his body turned in on itself. His hands are fists in his pockets and his dress pants are far to tight to be comfortable. His eyes are set ablaze in anger and frustration and apparently Jamie finds that attractive, because he shifts in his seat, sitting up straighter than before and watching the boy intently.

"My name is Tyler Seguin," he says, his voice smooth and pissed off. "I grew up in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. I've played hockey all of my life and I was recruited by the Boston division for my freshmen year. I'm a sophomore now and I was traded to the Stars division over the midterm break. Oh, and I don't want to fu-"

"Thank you, Mr. Seguin," Mr. Nil rushes to say, glaring at Tyler. "Please, take a seat next to Benn. Jamie, raise your hand."

Jamie swallows thickly, raising his hand. Tyler's eyes fall onto his figure and he starts walking toward the empty seat behind Jamie. He drops down, his books echoing in the quiet classroom. Mr. Nill starts talking, highlighting what they were going to go over this semester, but Jamie ignores him to turn around to look at Tyler.

"Hi," Jamie says nervously. "I'm Jamie Benn. I mean, obviously."

Tyler looks up only to glare at him and say, "And why the fuck should I care?"

"Oh," Jamie gasps in reply, not anticipating such a vicious response. "Well, I mean, you don't-"

"Just shut up before you embarrass yourself," Tyler hisses out.

"Woah, dude, I'm just trying to be nice," Jamie says, shocked and outraged.

"Yeah, well, keep it to yourself, hippy," Tyler says, his eyes snapping to Jamie's hair quickly before meeting his eyes once again.

Jamie stares at him in shock, his anger slowly rising to the surface. He slowly narrows his eyes, a snarl covering his lips, before he decides against a confrontation, turning around to glare at the front of the classroom.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm serious, Val," Jamie says, his hands flying everywhere. "He was such a douche bag!"

Valeri Nichushkin was a Russian recruit who had come to the Stars for his freshmen year. He didn't speak English very well, but he understood a lot more English than he could speak. Jamie had met him through Jordie, both of them playing on the school's hockey team. They'd bonded when Val had shown a slight interest in one of Jamie's old pieces, back when he finished them, and they'd becomes fast friends, even with the language barrier.

"Crush," Val chuckled out, his shoulder hitting Jamie's.

"What? No! Who even taught you that?" Jamie asks, his cheeks warming.

"Gonch," Val says with a laugh, stepping away before Jamie can push him.

"Yeah, well," Jamie mutters, internally cursing the senior.

"Practice," Val says suddenly, pointing at the watch around his wrist.

"Oh, shit," Jamie curses, grabbing onto Val's hand and dragging him toward the school's rink. "If we don't hurry, you're going to be late!"

They get there in time, Val waving goodbye to Jamie before heading for the locker room. Jamie heads for his spot, the seat at ice level that lays right beside the Stars' bench. He plops his backpack down beside him and waits for the team to take the ice for practice. He's thinking of possibly playing something on his hone when he finally hears skates on the ice. He looks up and smiles as he sees the team skate onto the ice. He quickly locates Jordie, who has Lehtonen in a headlock and is knocking on his goalie mask.

"Jordie! Grow up!" Jamie shouts, laughing when Daley holds his stick out so Jordie will trip. Val skates by, pointing his stick at Jamie, before heading back over to the rest of the team.

Jamie watches them practice, paying close attention to the new players. When he sees Tyler he looks away quickly, still angry over their previous encounter. Jamie grows bored eventually, watching a hockey team practice isn't as entertaining as he wished it was, so instead he pulls out his travel sketch book. It's half filled with unfinished sketches, from nature to buildings, it's all there and not one is finished. He starts sketching, not paying any particular attention to what exactly he's drawing. He glances up at the team practicing every once and a while, his eyes somehow always finding Tyler. He's glancing up at them when the coach blows his whistle, announcing that practice is over. He watches Jordie leave the ice, chirping Cole and Dillon as he goes, and he jumps, his leg hitting his arm rest violently when someone shoots a puck in his direction. He turns wide eyes to Tyler, who is skating slowly toward him.

"Why are you here?" Tyler asks, taking his helmet off and shaking out his sweaty hair.

Jamie flushes in anger and places his sketch pad on the seat next to him before standing up. "Why do you care?"

"Because stalking is a creepy trait," Tyler replies, scoffing at Jamie.

"Get over yourself," Jamie hisses. "My brother is Jordie and my best friend is Val."

Tyler looks taken aback by Jamie's hissed revelation and glances toward where some of the team still lingers. "You're Jordie's little brother?"

"Both of our last names are Benn," Jamie points out, crossing his arms.

"I just thought he shared that misfortune with you," Tyler snaps back, shoving his helmet back on.

"You fucking asshole!" Jamie shouts, his face burning. "What the fuck is your problem?"

Tyler opens his mouth to say something, but Jamie shakes his head. He grabs his backpack and flips Tyler off, glaring at him, before he leaves quickly, not bothering to glance back to see what Tyler's reaction was.

He's kicking his feet against the ground when his brother finally exits from the rink, his hair still wet from his shower.

"Hey," he says, elbowing Jamie in greeting. "How's your day been?"

"Not bad," Jamie says, swinging his backpack over his shoulder. He debates telling Jordie about Tyler, but decides against it. Jamie's relationship with Tyler, or lack thereof, won't affect the team in anyway, so Jordie didn't need to know.

"I saw you drawing something during practice. You want to show me?" Jordie asks as they walk toward the dorms, Jamie's being the closest.

"Sure. I'm not really sure what I was... shit," Jamie replies, his arm pushing and searching through the contents of his backpack. "I think I forgot it at the rink."

"It should still be open," Jordie says. "You better go get it. You want me to come with you?"

"No, that's okay. I'll stop by your room later," Jamie insists, running back to the rink.

"Later!" Jordie shouts. Jamie waves half-heartedly at him, running faster.

The doors aren't locked yet and he gets in without seeing anybody else. Jamie instantly sees it as he walks closer to the section. His sketch pad is lying closed on the exact seat he'd left it on. With a relieved sigh, Jamie picks it up and slowly flips through it. He gets to the page he was drawing on during practice and is surprised to see it missing. The top of the page was ripped, obviously torn out quickly and without much care. Jamie frowns and wonders if maybe he dislodged it without noticing. He looks around the section he was in, even taking a glance out onto the ice. He frowns again, wondering if someone perhaps found it. But why would they tear out one of his sketches? It wouldn't have been completed anyway.

Jamie shakes his head and puts his sketch pad into his backpack carefully, making sure it's shut securely before leaving the rink for a second time that day.

As soon as Jamie leaves, a relieved sigh is reverberated around the rink. Tyler sits up from his hiding place in the section next to the one Jamie was in. He stands, stretching out his cramped muscles, and looks around to make sure no one else is around. He climbs out of the section, pausing on the stairs to look at the folded paper in his hands. He unfolds it carefully, his thumb running along the side of the drawing carefully.

A picture perfect drawing of himself stares back at him. His eyes narrowed at something unknown. He looks at the way Jamie drew his mouth, lightly shaded and pulled down into a frown, and feels himself try to copy the look. He traces his fingers over his hair, the style identical to the one he currently wore. Tyler bites his lip as he finally traces over the signature at the bottom. He goes over it lightly with his fingers, tracing the date as well. He finally folds it up again, unable to look at it anymore, and he leaves the rink, his mind racing.

**Author's Note:**

> End Part 1.
> 
> The timeline is a little skewed- okay, a lot. Considering Joe retired in 2009 and Segsy boy wasn't traded until 2013, the timeline is basically for shit. 
> 
> Okay, I think everything explains itself in the story, but, just in case:
> 
> Stanley Academy: an academy for the best and brightest. From sports to the arts, teenagers from 14-19 come to experience and be part of the best school in North America. StAc is located throughout Canada and the United States. There are 30 divisions, 23 located in the U.S. and 7 located in Canada. You guys get it? lol 
> 
> The second part should be here by the end of February. Should.


End file.
